Lake Serene — Tuesday, Apr. 12, 2005

Central Cascades > Stevens Pass - West

The weather report was 70% chance of showers plus thunderstorms and hail. Ha! It was sunny and warm up by Index and I was in shorts and t-shirt coming down from Lake Serene. The trail itself is a stony, rocky dwarf type trail, not at all the type that us elves prefer. There is a medium sized blowdown just past Bridal Veil falls and a big nasty blowdown further up. The footbridge over Bridal Veil falls is in danger of washout from a new stream that undercuts the west pylon. Snow begins about 2400 feet but is never a problem. At the lake itself the snow is only from 4 to 6 inches. Everything was very wet today because of the high temperatures and lots of melting. Overall the trail is clear but deceptive. Up to the falls it paces leisurely through beautiful green rain forest. Then it gets serious. Many stony switchbacks and strenuous stairs climb aggressively up the hill to the lake. Some very good engineering work by trail builders. Lake Serene is iced over and beautiful. The mountains all around the bowl are snow covered. Mt. Index put on a lively thunderous cascade of avalanches the whole time we were at picnic rock by the lake. Very noisy place considering we were alone in an isolated place on a weekday. Marvelous day of hiking.